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Monday, July 31, 2017

Rawhide chews for dogs have been around forever so you may not think twice about giving them to your dog, but do you know how they are actually made? According to holistic veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker, "...the name "rawhide" is technically incorrect. A more accurate term would be processed-hide, because there's nothing raw about these chews. Not only are rawhide chews often found on lists of pet poisons, they can be problematic in other ways as well."

One example of that is the recent recall of five brands of rawhide chews for dogs due to being contaminated with chemicals. Are you currently giving rawhide chews to your dog? Check this article for the brands and lot numbers involved in the recall and to learn more about it:

To learn more about rawhide manufacturing, check out this video created by Dr. Becker and Rodney Habib:

Another way in which rawhides are problematic is that they are a serious choking hazard. Never leave a dog unattended while chewing a rawhide. I've lost count the number of times over the last 15 years that we have saved a dog from choking to death on a rawhide by pulling them out of their throats. I wonder how many dogs are not so lucky because no one was there to help them.Oddly enough, as I was writing this article I received an email about a dog who sadly just recently choked to death on a treat called "No Hide" that claimed to be an alternative to rawhide and that it was NOT rawhide, when in fact DNA testing showed them to be made with beef rawhide. Beef was not listed in the ingredients at all. These treats claimed to be chicken or salmon. It's unbelievable sometimes what these manufacturers are allowed to get away with. You can read the entire article here: http://truthaboutpetfood.com/is-no-hide-dog-treat-actually-hide/

If you do currently give your dog rawhides, I hope after reading these articles and watching this video that you think twice about it going forward. Your pets count on you to do what's best for them. There are safer and healthier treats available.UPDATE: Just hours after posting this I received notice that the No-Hide treats mentioned above were not made under USDA inspection, though the company's claims allude to they are. How sneaky. Read more about it here.

Monday, July 17, 2017

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(And I'm not even mentioning a whole host of other problems with pet food ingredients that I've written about on numerous occasions.)Now we have a report that just came out by The Ecology Center's Healthy Stuff about the testing they have done on the different toxic chemicals in the coatings of pet can foods. (They also did a larger test on can foods for people.) And as you can imagine, it's not good.

"We know that safer substitutes for BPA and PVC are widely available,” said Lauren Olson, science campaign director with the Ecology Center. “Last year consumer pressure led to Campbell’s and Del Monte making a commitment to phasing out BPA from all their cans. We’re calling on pet food companies to follow their lead and remove these harmful chemicals from their products.”

Their press release states "The Ecology Center will reach out to the major manufacturers of the canned pet food tested asking them to make a commitment to safer substitutes in their can linings." I hope they do. We need to put the consumer pressure on the pet food makers the same way. Your voice and your action is needed. Our pets are being poisoned. This is unacceptable -- whether it's the BPA or PVC in the can linings or the list of heavy metals, GMOs and other toxins (like phenobarbital) in the food itself.

The Ecology Center has created an easy way for you to take action in regards to the toxins found in the can food linings that includes a photo of your pet. Click here to find out how! (See my example below with our cat Kilo.) We have to demand better quality foods for our pets!There seems to be a few pet food manufacturers who are ahead of this issue and now offer or have been offering plastic tubs instead of cans. But what chemicals are in the plastic the tubs are made out of that may leach into the food? We know that different plastics leach different toxic chemicals into foods as well. (I stopped using plastic containers for food storage when I learned this.) Would the (possible) toxins from the plastic tubs of food be less toxic than the chemicals like BPA and PVC in the can linings? One can only hope so! (Until those are tested!)

It's pretty sad that we have to choose between which toxin is worse. And that we have to have everything not only tested, but we have to be sure it's tested by a laboratory that doesn't have any vested interest in the petfood business; but this is where we are. At least now there are more different types of pet food options available like frozen, refrigerated and freeze dried. Kilo still loves his homemade raw food in addition to wet foods.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

For some time now I have been warning people not to feed their pets any food or treats that contain seafoods, and for good reason -- they are loaded with heavy metals.You can read the previous articles where I wrote about pet food testing that was done back in May 2017 and Jan 2015. I also gave 9 reasons to avoid seafood cat foods in April 2016 (as if heavy metals isn't enough). But this isn't just about cat foods. This is about any pet food or treat that contains any seafood ingredient. More and more research and testing is being conducted on pet foods -- not by the pet food companies themselves of course, but by outside sources. After reading this very disturbing but not surprising article on the subject, just released by Karen Becker, DVM, I was looking at the Clean Label Project's list of product ratings of their scientific testing on 900 pet foods and treats. I was only looking at the section on cat wet foods, but with a little investigating I discovered my suspicions were true. All of the cat wet foods that were tested and showed having less than a 5 star rating on the list (the fewer stars, the more heavy metals in them) had a fish or seafood ingredient in them. All of them. Even the ones labeled beef or chicken and duck! They either had fish in the list of ingredients, some form of seafood, or fish oil or dried kelp.It's worth mentioning here that when I have gone to a pet supply store to buy wet cat food and read the list of ingredients on different foods, I discovered that the pet food manufacturers are putting fish or other seafood ingredients in many of the foods without mentioning it at all on the front of the label. In fact, it's very misleading. You think you are getting a "chicken" only or a "beef" only food for example, because that's what it states on the front of the can, but if you actually read the list of ingredients, you will find fish in there! And usually it's one of the first 5 ingredients. So if you don't read ingredients, you could very well be feeding your pets seafoods or fish (and therefore heavy metals) without even knowing it.

So what does this mean? Unfortunately it means that you must read the ingredients of every pet food and treat you buy. And if there is any type of fish, fish oil, dried kelp or any other form or derivative of seafood in the list of ingredients, don't buy it! DON'T BUY IT! You will be slowly poisoning your pets with heavy metals such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, and others if you feed these types of foods and treats to your beloved pets. And if you are already feeding them these foods, stop! Please. And if you give your pets any type of supplement like fish oil or dried kelp and it's not certified organic with the seal of The Non-GMO Project Verified, then you can be sure that they contain toxic heavy metals. (USDA Certified Organic has no limits when it comes to heavy metals.) A safer alternative to generic fish oil or salmon oil is (sustainably harvested) krill oil.I'm with Dr. Becker - the safe amount of any toxin or heavy metal should be 0 ppm.Please read this article by Dr. Becker:

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Cozy Critters Pet Sitters provides professional, personalized in-your-home pet care. We also provide house and plant care for people without pets. Family owned and operated since 2002. Insured and Bonded.